Nextbook Press Stream

(Lenny Bruce as Adolf Eichmann) “But critics of the war...

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:55:00 -0400

(Lenny Bruce as Adolf Eichmann)

“But critics of the war have no reason to regret their views.” Stephen Cohen

Read The Eichmann Trial by Deborah Lipstadt

We would like to extend wishes for warm family gatherings to...

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 12:52:41 -0400

We would like to extend wishes for warm family gatherings to Nextbook Press readers this season. Janet Maslin writes in her Times review of When General Grant Expelled the Jews, “Anyone seeking to rock the Passover Seder with political debate will find the perfect conversation piece in Mr. Sarna’s account of this startling American story.” The Civil War has always had a seat at the table during Passover. With President Lincoln’s assassination occurring on the fifth day in 1865, synagogue services took on mournful tones, grieving the loss of a leader who did great work on behalf of American Jewry—overturning General Grant’s General Order #11 among other feats. Tropes of freedom and slavery saddles both recollections of Moses and Lincoln.

So in inviting General Grant to the table, and in turn perhaps allowing substantive political discourse at your gathering, here are a few more highlights of Nextbook offerings relevant to Passover:

Sacred Trash

Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole spoke to Vox Tablet host Sara Ivry about how such a remarkable collection of documents came to exist, the many characters—from Schechter to a woman from the Middle Ages known as “Wuhsha the Broker”—associated with it, and what its contents reveal about historical celebrations of Passover. (April 2011)

Barney Ross

An excerpt (p.27):

The Wicked Son

Also pick up Mamet’s Passover-inspired meditation on anti -Semitism, self-hatred and the Jews.

Shimon Peres wants you to like him. On Facebook that is, we...

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 16:23:13 -0500

Shimon Peres wants you to like him. On Facebook that is, we already know you like him plenty after reading BEN GURION: A POLITICAL LIFE.

“This book, the most detailed study of the topic to date,...

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 16:01:27 -0500

“This book, the most detailed study of the topic to date, takes readers from the issuing of the order to Grant’s demise. Sarna sheds light on a little-known aspect of the Civil War and the experience and treatment of Jews during the mid-to late 19th century. A valuable addition to all collections for Civil War and presidential history buffs and specialists, as well as for students of American Jewish history.”

When General Grant Expelled the Jews

Deborah Lipstadt | History After The Witnesses: When the survivors are gone, Holocaust education will lose a powerful tool

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:02:15 -0500

When I first began teaching the history of the Holocaust in the 1970s I invited a survivor of Auschwitz to speak to my students. It was the first time she had ever spoken publicly about her experiences, and was a profoundly moving moment for her as well as for the students. After that, having witnessed the power of the voice of the person who can speak in the first-person singular, I invited survivors to the class regularly. Their stories — some would call it testimony — galvanized the students’ interest, putting a human face on the history that they had been studying during the semester. It left far more of an impression than any of my lectures. Read more…

Flashback: Remember when Robert Pinsky was on Colbert...

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:50:27 -0500

Flashback: Remember when Robert Pinsky was on Colbert Report?

Related Nextbook Press title: The Life of David

Wayne Hoffman Wins Stonewall Book Award

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:49:12 -0500

We are excited to announce that Nextbook Press deputy editor Wayne Hoffman has been awarded the Stonewall Book Award for literature for his novel, Sweet Like Sugar. The novel tells the story of the chance meeting and unlikely friendship between a young gay man and an older Orthodox rabbi.

Hoffman discussed the book with Vox Tablet this summer.

Congratulations, Wayne!

“Sacred Trash” wins Sophie Brody Medal; three honor titles also named

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:33:26 -0500

“Sacred Trash: the Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza” by Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole (Schocken Books) is the 2012 recipient of the he Reference and User Services Association’s (RUSA) Sophie Brody Medal Award for outstanding Jewish literature.

The award is an annual honor bestowed by the Collection Development and Evaluation Section (CODES) of RUSA, and is funded by Arthur Brody and the Brodart Foundation. It is given to encourage, recognize and commend outstanding achievement in Jewish literature. Works for adults published in the United States in the preceding year are eligible for the award.

“Sacred Trash” recounts the discovery and retrieval of worn-out Jewish documents from the Cairo Geniza. In this religiously-mandated repository, medieval documents were found that render a fascinating view of a 900-year span of a vibrant Mediterranean Jewish culture by examining not only sacred texts, but also wills, contracts, letters and other everyday documents.

The committee also selected three honor books:

“Jerusalem: the Biography” by Simon Sebag Montefiore (Alfred A. Knopf): This book provides an in-depth and balanced history of Jerusalem up to the Six-Day War. Montefiore covers the origins and evolutions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, all of which have claims to the city, as well as the struggles that each group has faced throughout history. While the book is highly informative, its accessible style keeps the reader engaged.

“MetaMaus” by Art Spiegelman (Pantheon Books): Spiegelman explains his motivations and challenges in creating “Maus”, which is based on his parents’ Holocaust experiences. He also explains why he used a comic book format, as well as the difficulties he had in maintaining an accurate picture that corresponded to his father’s stories. Spiegelman also discusses how the world received “Maus” and his challenges in maintaining its integrity.

“Quiet Americans: Stories” by Erika Dreifus (Last Light Studio Books): This little book of short stories is a gem that anyone can read and enjoy. Its straightforward writing and understandable stories about German Jews and their descendants bring us into the everyday lives of Jewish Americans. Some stories are interrelated, but they stand alone in their own right.

The winner and honor books were selected by the Sophie Brody Medal Award Committee, whose members include Edward Kownslar, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi (Chair); Emily Bergman, University of Southern California; Asia Gross, St. Charles City-County Library District; Danise Hoover, Hunter College; Judy Korn, Johnson County Community College; and Deborah Luchenbill, State Historical Society of Missouri.

Enjoy the Leonard Lopate Show Book Club this month, sponsored by...

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:36:39 -0500

Enjoy the Leonard Lopate Show Book Club this month, sponsored by Nextbook Press and our latest BEN-GURION: A POLITICAL LIFE by SHIMON PERES.

There she goes...

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:42:10 -0500

SACRED TRASH and THE EICHMANN TRIAL have been chosen as finalists in the 2011 National Jewish Book Awards. Congratulations to Adina Hoffman, Peter Cole, and Deborah Lipstadt from Nextbook Press.

Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole talk geniza (depository for...

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:53:00 -0500

Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole talk geniza (depository for worn-out Hebrew-language books and papers) with the Jerusalem Post.

The authors stress that readers shouldn’t expect to derive any tips on how to discard their own divine detritus. “The lessons of Sacred Trash—and of the Cairo Geniza—have nothing to do with garbage disposal. Our book is really about the worth of words and their place in Jewish life.”

Check out pieces of the Geniza from the Taylor-Schechter Genizah Research Unit at Cambridge.

Via @nytimes: “She Wrote a Nation’s Welcome:”...

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 11:32:00 -0500

Via @nytimes: “She Wrote a Nation’s Welcome:” The work of Emma Lazarus and her biographer Esther Schor recognized in the “Poet of Exiles” exhibit at the Museum of Jewish Heritage

Even if Emma Lazarus’s poem “The New Colossus” had not transformed the gargantuan Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor from an aggressive monument — “Liberty Enlightening the World” — into a welcoming “Mother of Exiles”; even if she had not provided that crowned goddess with a humane voice that still resonates (“Give me your tired, your poor”); even if she had not asserted a powerful connection between liberty and opportunity, the exhibition “Emma Lazarus: Poet of Exiles” at the Museum of Jewish Heritage demonstrates that there would still be reasons to value her life and work.

APOLOGIA FOR BEN-GURION (Review of BEN-GURION by SHIMON...

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 11:25:42 -0500

APOLOGIA FOR BEN-GURION

(Review of BEN-GURION by SHIMON PERES)

“They were kindred spirits. Both were voracious readers, polymaths, single-mindedly ambitious, and coldly pragmatic. Both had high, unself-critical opinions of themselves. They ruthlessly battled foes within their political camp, though Ben-Gurion was arguably the more vindictive. Both were Big Idea men. Ben-Gurion envisioned a renascent Israel along vaguely biblical principles; Peres, more ambitious still, sought an entirely “new Middle East.”” —Jewish Ideas Daily

Fresh off El Al from Israel. Peres wrote BEN-GURION like God...

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 11:33:51 -0500

Fresh off El Al from Israel. Peres wrote BEN-GURION like God wrote the bible. Guess that makes Landau Moses.

Join the conversation: Roundup of Nextbook Press author and title news

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 11:15:00 -0500

“…the Arab rejectionism that made peace unreachable in Ben-Gurion’s day still grips today’s Palestinian leadership.” (Jewish Ideas Daily)

Eichmann’s glass booth will be displayed at the Knesset for another week as part of an exhibit commemorating the 50th anniversary of the trial. “If I had to pick two people who were most instrumental in pushing the Final Solution, after seeing this exhibit, I would say it was the Mufti and Eichmann,” Netanyahu said. (JPost)

Jewish Book World interviews Hillel Halkin. (JBW)

As the United States Poet Laureate and Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, Robert Pinsky founded the Favorite Poem Project, a program dedicated to celebrating, documenting and encouraging poetry’s role in Americans’ lives. (bigthink)

Related Nextbook Press titles:

VIDEO: Beside the Golden Door: New exhibit features annotated ‘The New Colossus’

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 18:58:03 -0500

VIDEO: Beside the Golden Door: New exhibit features annotated ‘The New Colossus’:

Earlier today, we stopped by New York City’s Museum of Jewish Heritage for a new exhibit involving Esther Schor’s interactive, annotated version (first published by Nextbook Press) of the famous Emma Lazarus sonnet, “The New Colossus.” Check it. (via Tablet Magazine)

Gift Guide: What to give the bookworms in your life

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 14:32:13 -0500

Nestled in the list of nonfiction suggestions is Nextbook Press’ SACRED TRASH by Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole.

“For readers who revere the written word and the wisdom it can convey. This is the story of how a Jewish intellectual, a couple of Presbyterian Scotswomen, and others worked to unearth and piece together fragments of paper from 900 years of Medieval Jewish life - a stunning cache of Jewish manuscripts.”

Read more about SACRED TRASH at nextbookpress.com.

Advanced praise for WHEN GRANT EXPELLED THE JEWS

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 10:47:00 -0500

“Thoroughly researched and crisply written, this is a very fine work that will interest students of both American and modern Jewish history.”

—Publishers Weekly

“Sarna expertly navigates the repercussions of Grant’s shocking order, which galvanized the American Jewish community into action, reminding many who were refugees from European expulsions how insecure they were even in America… . Sarna weighs the short-lived order against important Jewish appointments in Grant’s administration, his humanitarian support for oppressed Jews around the world, and lasting friendships with Jews. A well-argued exoneration of a president and a sturdy scholarly study.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“In this compelling and focused study, Jonathan D. Sarna explores the causes—and assesses the little-known impact—of one of the most troubling incidents in the life of the Union’s greatest commander.”

—Geoffrey C. Ward, coauthor of The Civil War

“An absorbing account of a lamentable act by the North’s greatest general, a dishonorable act committed by an honorable man. This fair and balanced treatment of the event places the commander and the Jews in the context of great conflict. Fortunately, redemption and rapprochement would follow.”

—Frank J. Williams, president, Ulysses S. Grant Association

On December 17, 1862, as the Civil War entered its second winter, General Ulysses S. Grant issued a sweeping order, General Orders #11, expelling “Jews as a class” from his war zone. It remains the most notorious anti-Jewish official order in American history.The order came back to haunt Grant in 1868 when he ran for president. Never before had Jews been so widely noticed in a presidential contest, and never before had they been confronted so publicly with the question of how to balance their “American” and “Jewish” interests.

During his two terms in the White House, the memory of the “obnoxious order” shaped Grant’s relationship with the American Jewish community. Surprisingly, he did more for Jews than any other president to his time. How this happened, and why, sheds new light on one of our most enigmatic presidents, on the Jews of his day, and on America itself.

Thoroughly researched and crisply written, this is a very fine...

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:27:00 -0500

Thoroughly researched and crisply written, this is a very fine work that will interest students of both American and modern Jewish history.

-Publishers weekly

An interview with Nextbook Press author Deborah Lipstadt (via Ha'aretz)

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:41:00 -0500

Read this excellent interview with The Eichmann Trial author Deborah Lipstadt on the Shoah, the trial, and the “new” anti-Semitism (oh my).